"Thracian Girl carrying the Head of Orpheus on his Lyre", from an 1865 painting by Gustave Moreau.

Orpheus (Greek: Ὀρφεύς; in English pronounced /ˈɔrfiəs/ or /ˈɔrfjuːs/) is an important figure from Greek mythology, the inspiration for subsequent Orphic cults, much of the literature, poetry and drama of ancient Greece and Rome and, due to his association with singing and the lyre, much dramatic Western classical music.

Orpheus was called by Pindar "the father of songs" and asserted to be a son of the Thracian river god Oiagros.^[1] The Muse Calliope is his mother.^[2] but as Karl Kerenyi observes,^[3] "In the popular mind he was more closely linked to the community of his disciples and adherents than with any particular race or family".

The Greeks of the Classical age venerated the legendary figure of Orpheus as chief among poets and musicians, and the perfector of the lyre invented by Hermes. Poets like Simonides of Ceos said that, with his music and singing, he could charm birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance,^[4] and even divert the course of rivers. He was one of the handful of Greek heroes^[5] to visit the Underworld and return; even in Hades his song and lyre did not lose their power.

As one of the pioneers of civilization, he is said at various times to have taught humanity the arts of medicine, writing (in one unusual instance,^[6] where he substitutes for the usual candidate, Cadmus) and agriculture, where he assumes the Eleusinian role of Triptolemus. More consistently and more closely connected with religious life, Orpheus was an augur and seer; practiced magical arts, especially astrology; founded or rendered accessible many important cults, such as those of Apollo and the Greek god Dionysus;^[7] instituted mystic rites both public and private; and prescribed initiatory and purificatory rituals, which his community of followers treasured in Orphic texts. In addition, Pindar and Apollonius of Rhodes^[8] place Orpheus as the harpist and companion of Jason and the Argonauts. Orpheus had a brother named Linus that went to Thebes and became a Theban.^[9]

[edit] Etymology

Orpheus with the lyre and surrounded by beasts, Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens

Several etymologies for the name Orpheus have been proposed. A probable suggestion is that it is derived from a hypothetical PIE verb *orbhao-, "to be deprived", from PIE *orbh-, "to put asunder, separate". Cognates would include Greek orphe, "darkness"^[10], and Greek orphanos^[11], "fatherless, orphan", from which comes English "orphan" by way of Latin. Orpheus would therefore be semantically close to goao^[10], "to lament, sing wildly, cast a spell", uniting his seemingly disparate roles as disappointed lover, transgressive musician and mystery-priest into a single lexical whole. The word "orphic" is defined as mystic, fascinating and entrancing, and, probably, because of the oracle of Orpheus, "orphic" can also signify "oracular"^[12].Fulgentius a (late 5th – early 6th century AD) mythographer gave the unlikely etymology meaning "best voice" , "Oraia-phonos".^[13]

[edit] In Strabo

Strabo^[14](64 BC – ca. AD 24) surprisingly gives a more mundane telling of Orpheus's life, presenting him as a mortal, though he mentions that he was a "wizard" who lived and died in a village close to Olympus. He writes that he practiced his skill for money but later gathered followers and power that in the end killed him. He uses the word αγυρτεύοντα^[15] , a term used by Sophocles in Oedipus Tyrannus to characterize Teiresias as a trickster with an excessive desire for possessions. The word αγύρτης meant most of the times Charlatan^[16] and always had a negative connotation to it.

Pausanias wrote of an Egyptian who also had the opinion that Orpheus was a magician, using the word "Μάγευσε".^[17]

[edit] Mythology

[edit] Early life

According to a fragment of Pindar,^[18] and Apollodorus^[19] Orpheus' father was Oeagrus (Οίαγρος) a Thracian king (or, according to another version of the story, the god Apollo); his mother was the muse Calliope or a daughter of Pierus^[20] son of Makednos. In Argonautica the location of Oeagrus and Calliope's wedding is close to Pimpleia^[21]. While living with his mother in Parnassus^[22] and her eight beautiful sisters, he met Apollo who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo became fond of Orpheus and gave him a little golden lyre, and taught him to play it. Orpheus's mother taught him to make verses for singing. Strabo mentions that he lived in a village called Pimpleia^[23] close to Olympus^[23][24].

Orpheus is said to have established the worship of Hecate in Aegina^[25]. In Laconia Orpheus is said to have brought the worship of ^[26]Demeter Cthonia and that of the "Κόρες Σωτείρας" saviour maid^[27] Also in Taygetus a wooden image of Orpheus was said to have been kept by Pelasgians in the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Demeter.^[28]

Orpheus life

[edit] Traveling as an Argonaut

The Argonautica (also Argonautika) (Greek: Ἀργοναυτικά) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BCE. Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions. Chiron had told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens — the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ship into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played music that was more beautiful and louder, drowning out the Sirens' bewitching songs.

[edit] Death of Eurydice

The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice (also known as Agriope). While fleeing from Aristaeus (son of Apollo), Eurydice ran into a nest of snakes which bit her fatally on her heel. Distraught, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following and in his anxiety as soon as he reached the upper world he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever. The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of Aristaeus. Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus' visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium,^[29] the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. Ovid says that Eurydice's death was not caused by fleeing from Aristaeus but by dancing with naiads on her wedding day. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades and get her back alive. Since his love was not "true"--he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women.

The story of Eurydice may actually be a late addition to the Orpheus myths. In particular, the name Eurudike ("she whose justice extends widely") recalls cult-titles attached to Persephone. The myth may have been derived from another Orpheus legend in which he travels to Tartarus and charms the goddess Hecate.^{[citation needed]}

The descent to the Underworld of Orpheus is paralleled in other versions of a worldwide theme: the Japanese myth of Izanagi and Izanami, the Akkadian/Sumerian myth of Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, and Mayan myth of Ix Chel and Itzamna. The Nez Perce tell a story about the trickster figure, Coyote, that shares many similarities with the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.^[30] The mytheme of not looking back, an essential precaution in Jason's raising of chthonic Brimo Hekate under Medea's guidance,^[31] is reflected in the Biblical story of Lot's wife when escaping from Sodom. The warning of not looking back is also found in the Grimms' folk tale "Hansel and Gretel." More directly, the story of Orpheus is similar to the ancient Greek tales of Persephone captured by Hades and similar stories of Adonis captive in the underworld. However, the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development of Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus.

[edit] Death

Albrecht Dürer envisioned the death of Orpheus in this pen and ink drawing (detail), 1494 (Kunsthalle, Hamburg)

According to a Late Antique summary of Aeschylus's lost play Bassarids, Orpheus at the end of his life disdained the worship of all gods save the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he went to the oracle of Dionysus at Mount Pangaion^[32] to salute his god at dawn, but was torn to death by Thracian Maenads for not honoring his previous patron, Dionysus and buried in Pieria.^[7] Here his death is analogous with the death of Pentheus. Pausanias writes that Orpheus was buried in Dion and that he met his death there^[33]. He writes that the river Helicon sank underground when the women that killed Orpheus tried to wash off their blood-stained hands in his waters^[34]

Ovid also recounts that the Ciconian^[35] women, Dionysus' followers, spurned by Orpheus who'd forsworn the love of women after the death of Eurydice and had taken only youths as his lovers,^[36] first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies.^[37] Medieval folkore put additional spin on the story: in Albrecht Dürer's drawing (illustration, right) the ribbon high in the tree is lettered Orfeus der erst puseran ("Orpheus, the first sodomite")—an interpretation of the passage in Ovid (Bk. X) where Orpheus is said to have been "the first of the Thracian people to transfer his love to young boys." His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the swift Hebrus to the Mediterranean shore. There, the winds and waves carried them on to the Lesbos^[38] shore, where the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa; there his oracle prophesied, until it was silenced by Apollo (Life of Apollonius of Tyana, book v.4.14). The lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was placed among the stars. The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra^[39] below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. After the river Sys flooded^[40] Leibethra Macedonians took his bones to Dion. His soul returned to the underworld, where he was re-united at last with his beloved Eurydice. Another legend places his tomb at Dion,^[32] near Pydna in Macedon. Other accounts of his death are that he killed himself from grief at the failure of his journey to Hades, or that he was struck with lightning by Zeus for having revealed the mysteries of the gods to men.^[41]

In another version of the myth Orpheus travels to Aornum in Thesprotia to an old oracle for the dead. In the end Orpheus commits suicide from his grief unable to find Eurydice.^[42]

[edit] Orphic poems and rites

A number of Greek religious poems in hexameters were attributed to Orpheus, as they were to similar miracle-working figures, like Bakis, Musaeus, Abaris, Aristeas, Epimenides, and the Sibyl. Of this vast literature, only two examples survived whole: a set of hymns composed at some point in the second or third century AD, and an Orphic Argonautica composed somewhere between the fourth and sixth centuries AD. Earlier Orphic literature, which may date back as far as the sixth century BC, survives only in papyrus fragments or in quotations.

Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus, by John William Waterhouse

In addition to serving as a storehouse of mythological data along the lines of Hesiod's Theogony, Orphic poetry was recited in mystery-rites and purification rituals. Plato in particular tells of a class of vagrant beggar-priests who would go about offering purifications to the rich, a clatter of books by Orpheus and Musaeus in tow (Republic 364c-d). Those who were especially devoted to these ritual and poems often practiced vegetarianism and abstention from sex, and refrained from eating eggs and beans — which came to be known as the Orphikos bios, or "Orphic way of life".^[43]

The Derveni papyrus, found in Derveni, Macedonia (Greece) in 1962, contains a philosophical treatise that is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem in hexameters, a theogony concerning the birth of the gods, produced in the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras, written in the second half of the fifth century BC. Fragments of the poem are quoted making it "the most important new piece of evidence about Greek philosophy and religion to come to light since the Renaissance".^[44] The papyrus dates to around 340 BC, during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, making it Europe's oldest surviving manuscript. The historian William Mitford wrote in 1784 that the very earliest form of a higher and cohesive ancient Greek religion was manifest in the Orphic poems.^[45]

W.K.C. Guthrie wrote that Orpheus was the founder of mystery religions and the first to reveal to men the meanings of the initiation rites.^[46]

[edit] See also

• Leibethra
• Pimpleia
• Aornum
• Pierian Spring
• List of Orphean operas

[edit] References

• Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke I, iii, 2; ix, 16 & 25;
• Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica I, 23- 34; IV, 891-909.
• Bernabé, Albertus (ed.), Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta. Poetae Epici Graeci. Pars II. Fasc. 1. Bibliotheca Teubneriana, München/Leipzig: K.G. Saur, 2004. ISBN 3-598-71707-5. review of this book
• Guthrie, William Keith Chambers, Orpheus and Greek Religion: a Study of the Orphic Movement, 1935.
• Kerenyi, Karl (1959). The Heroes of the Greeks. New York/London: Thames and Hudson. 
• Mitford, William, The History of Greece, 1784. Cf. v.1, Chapter II, Religion of the Early Greeks.
• Moore, Clifford H., Religious Thought of the Greeks, 1916. Kessinger Publishing (April 2003). ISBN 978-0766151307
• Ossoli, Margaret Fuller, Orpheus, a sonnet about his trip to the underworld.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses X, 1-105; XI, 1-66;
• Rohde, Erwin, Psyche, 1925. cf. Chapter 10, The Orphics.
• Segal, Charles (1989). Orpheus : The Myth of the Poet. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801837081. 
• Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, article on Orpheus,^[47]
• Taylor, Thomas [translator], The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus, 1896.^[48]
• West, Martin L., The Orphic Poems, 1983. There is a sub-thesis in this work that early Greek religion was heavily influenced by Central Asian shamanistic practices. One major point of contact was the ancient Crimean city of Olbia.

[edit] Spoken-word myths - audio files

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Orpheus

• Greek Mythology Link, Orpheus
• Theoi Project: online text: The Orphic Hymns translated by Thomas Taylor
• The Story of Orpheus.
• Orphica in English and Greek, Select Resources
• Kz department of antiquities in Greece,Leibethra
• Leibethra,The Tomb of Orpheus
• Double Identity: Orpheus as David. Orpheus as Christ? Biblical Archaeology Review